New Delhi: The Supreme Court has upheld the 2016 order of the Calcutta High Court, quashing the illegal recruitment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff by the School Service Commission (SSC). The verdict has triggered a political storm in West Bengal, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reacting angrily to the ruling and terming it a conspiracy.
Mamata Banerjee now is on a damage control operation and has called on the affected teachers for a meeting on April 7 to talk about their problems. Opposition parties like BJP, Congress and CPI(M) have attacked her government over this issue, while BJP has also demanded her resignation.
The cancellation of teacher jobs and corruption are likely to be major election issues leading up to the assembly polls in 2026.
The 2016 recruitment scam came to light following a CBI probe ordered by the Calcutta High Court in 2022, which involved top TMC and Mamata’s ministers like the ex-minister Partha Chatterjee and ex-minister Paresh Adhikari, along with some ex-SSC officials. Many of these were arrested; some got bail, and Partha Chatterjee is still applying for bail.
The spate of corruption cases has given rise to speculation in Bengal politics about whether the involvement of TMC in corruption scandals will harm the Mamata Banerjee government with the public at the polls or whether she has been able to cover up the damage control once again and continue her victory march.
Political analysts have found parallels with Tripura as the state government ended up paying back because of the scam of recruitments of the state government. The cancellation of appointments in Tripura led to the eventual loss of power for the Left Front-serving government in the 2018 elections, which was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court in 2017.
A similar incident is in progress in Bengal, which has left TMC leaders worried, but opinions within the party differ. There are those within the party who believe this could influence the elections and others who believe Mamata will be able to handle this, as she has in the past.
The influence of teacher job cancellations was not substantial in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections; as a result, TMC received more seats while BJP received fewer seats. But the most recent Supreme Court decision reignited one of the hottest political fights.
Several BJP leaders have aimed attacks at Mamata Banerjee’s government, with state president Sukanta Majumdar holding her responsible for the teacher recruitment scam and demanding her resignation. CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty also slammed the government for not being able to separate genuine job aspirants from the ones who bought the jobs and end up cancelling jobs of many genuine candidates.
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